-This is where we begin to grow a speech. Thoughts come in order, and you have to fully open one thought before you can move onto the next thought.

-To ignore the thought is to simply be reciting words.

-You have to take the energy all the way through the thought. To drop the energy will lose the thought, and in losing the thought you will lose the audience.

-Thoughts are signposted by punctuation.

A full stop: a colon, a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark is often the end of a thought.

Commas mark turns and diversions within the thought- typically not the end of the full thought.

You cannot run over punctuation. Acknowledge each comma, period, etc.

Thoughts can go on for many, many lines! Some are as short as less than one line, some are over 12 lines long! Typically a speech will have between 3-5 major thoughts within it. If a character has more they are clearly in turmoil… less shows a clear path and idea.

Activity:

-Get a partner and then a speech. Read it.

-Read the speech out loud to each other like a conversation-switch readers whenever the thought changes.

If they drop the energy start over and have them push against your hand harder and harder until the thought is done to grow the energy throughout. No partner? Push against the wall, increasing in intensity until the thought is complete. Start over at the next thought.

Activity #2: (Outside if possible! Or a place with a lot of room to move around.)

-Select a speech.

-Read it out loud and walk it. Turn each time you feel the thought change direction. Let the changes happen as you feel them.

Example: To be (turn) or not to be (turn) that is the question.

Challenge: Try to walk the rhythym of the speech. Allow the iambic to dictate your steps.

In turn, allow the text to dictate your speed. Does the iambic flow quickly or slowly? Does it change with each thought?

-Read it again out loud and on each turn vary something in your vocal quality. Get louder or whisper, do a different voice.Â It doesn’t have to fit the text, just get accustomed to changing on each thought.

-Stand still. Breathe. Eyes closed, think through the speech you just did silently to yourself.

Think about your speech for a moment and take a walk around. Loosen up.

-Mark where each thought begins. (Not the developments within the thought)

In another color mark where the thought begins to shift.

-Talk yourself through the speech, thought by thought in your own words.

-Standing still read the speech one last time to yourself, keeping the discoveries about the thought progression in your vocal quality.

Final thoughts: Learn a text thought by thought rather than line by line.

When you don’t understand a line or a section of a speech go back to the beginning of the speech and unlock it stage by stage, line by line.

Sometimes the rhythm of the line will break or change if the character is emotionally distressed. Here are some of the variations in the iambic you need to be aware of:

INVERSION/TROCHEE:

Now is the winter of our discontent (Richard III)

Gallop apace you fiery footed steeds (Romeo & Juliet)

I take the offer then: pay the bond thrice. (The Merchant of Venice)Â

-Flip the first foot’s stresses so the first word is stressed.

– Mid line ones show interruption of thoughts.

– Will only happen at the beginning of the line or after punctuation!

-They mark when something important has happened and stresses the more important word.

FEMININE ENDING:

To be or not to be that is the question. (Hamlet)

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, (The Tempest)

– Shows indecision

-Softens the line

-Ends on an extra unstressed syllable and one half feet.

SHORT LINES:

Love, and be silent. (King Lear)

– Beat out the remaining feet- that is how much silence you need to put after the line. The above example has 2.5 feet of silence after the last word.

SHORT COMBINATION LINES:

LEAR: But goes thy hear with this?

CORDELIA: Ay, good my lord.

HAMLET: Consent to swear.

HORATIO: Propose the oath, my lord.

– The combination of the lines makes a perfect 5 foot line.

– The actors need to reahearse these to come right after each other with no hesitation. (The continuation of the perfect line shows that there is no pause between the short lines.)

– This means you not only have to scan (mark the stresses) on your lines but the lines before and after yours- AND while acting be paying attention (remember the listening activities?!).

Caesura:

It wearies me; //you say it wearies you (Merchant of Venice)

– This is a full pause in the line, marked by a //

– Not every line has them, be aware of where there could be a full silence. Don’t be afraid of silence on stage!!

ELISION:

In’t, as’t, hea’en, o,Â lock’d, accomplish’d

- In Shakespeare’s time the “ed” at the end of the word was frequently pronounced. (Now we would mark it as “pronounce-ed”- but that is not the case in Shakespeare’s text!) If there is an apostrophe then you can use the modern pronounciation because it is shortened.

– The letter “v” also frequently dissapeares to make words like “heaven” a one syllable word “he’an”.

Activity:

-Take a monologue and a pencil and scan the first two lines

** Proof it by reading it out loud using the stresses. Does it work?

** Make necessary corrections.

** If you think something is “wrong” figure out if it can work both ways.

-Have someone else scan a speech and try to read it with their scanscion marks.

Final Thoughts: You can spend hours examining iambic and line length. Each time there is an irregularity, the content will be highlighted and sense and intention made clearer. This is not easy, and often takes much, much practice for it to come naturally. Keep working at it!!

-Perhaps the hardest thing to learn while doing Shakespeare is to learn to fully listen to what is happening around you while you are performing. To practice this skill try the following things:

Listen to yourself breathe.

Then notice how many other noises you are able to hear. Start listening to what is closest to you and move away. Stretch your ears are far as possible.

Listen to the music of someone else’s speech patten. Do they end sentances with an upward inflection? Downward? Does it stay the same or change?

Listen to the words people choose to emphasize in their speech.

The challenge: listen to a viewpoint that is not your own. Don’t think of your rebuttal, why you disagree or anything about yourself. Simply listen to it. Analyze how they are speaking rather than what they are saying.

-You must be able to speak clearly in order to be understood, and also to find the resonance within the words.

Compare: O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven (Hamlet)

To: What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? (A Winter’s Tale)

-Compare the use of vowels and the hard Ts and Ds. What does this tell you about the emotion of the speaker? (Read out loud. Make sure you can hear the difference in the words!)

Activity

-Take a monologue. Read the first two lines (at least) twice, making sure to pronounce your vowels correctly and hit the consonants. Simply read clearly. Don’t act the lines- emotion will come through the word construction. Find someone to give you feedback.

– On the first time through have the listening partner listen to make sure the speaker is hitting the consonants correctly and hard. Make needed corrections.

– On the second read through discuss what emotions are shown by the word construction.

Conclusion: You must be a clear speaker to find the emotion in the words themselves (beyond the meaning of the words) and to woo the audience into listening to you.